No Bridge Over Stormy Water

 

‘Hi there,’ she said.

‘Hullo!’ It’s possible I said it before her.

 ‘Been a long time…’

‘Yeah, old ghosts rising…’

‘Who’s old? Not me…’

‘Not noticed anything sagging?’

‘I see you haven’t changed.’

‘Who changes?’

‘The sane do…’

‘The clever do… so, how’s life?’

‘Not bad at all. And you?’

‘Staying alive… Are you still in the same place?’

‘No, my brother stays there. But we stay close by…’

‘In the family property…?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Old loot…’

‘Still got that chip on your shoulder…?’

‘Who… me…? Not at all…’

‘It used to be there…’

‘Well, lots of water gone under that bridge… stormy water…’

‘Even the bridge’s gone…’

‘True… anyway… what’s new? I think I saw your photo in the paper recently…’

‘Ha… for that fund-raiser, I guess… just a pain!’

‘You are VP or something, right?’

‘MD…’

 ‘Wow… you have done well.’

‘What do you do these days?’

‘The same… freelance.’

‘In what…?’

‘Nothing… just free, that’s all…’

‘Ah!’

‘You’ve two kids, right?’

‘Yeah, the same ones...’

‘And… the same husband…?’

‘You are well-informed…’

‘Is he that chap I met…?’

‘Who did you meet?’

‘You were weeping on some guy’s shoulder then…’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Oh, nothing…’

‘Whatever… how about you… any luck so far?’

‘Freelancer in that, too…’

‘Found anything to lance… or, just free?’

‘Mostly free… by choice…’

‘Whose?’

‘Whose… what…?’

‘Whose choice…?’

‘Mine, of course…’

‘That’s a change, right?’

‘Well, choice has been better since then…’

‘Good for you…’

‘So, this husband… is it that doctor chap?’

‘Yeah…’

‘What happened to the guy in between…?’

‘In between what…?’

‘That weeping willow came after me, right?’

‘After you…? When did you enter the picture?’

‘Aha… so, it’s like that now… well, history is there to be rewritten…’

‘What history are you blabbering about?’

‘Nothing…’

‘Whatever.’

 ‘You have changed… or maybe, you haven’t…’

‘You certainly haven’t…’

‘Ok then… stay young… say hi to the doctor chap…’

‘Yeah, yeah… you stay free…’